If they say: “you must suffer both torture and burning” —
I shall joyously sing on the stake that will finish my life —
Obedient.
If I had to abandon my singing forever,
I would silently offer my tongue and my hands to the knife —
Obedient.
If they said: “you will never again be together” —
I would strengthen my love and would know how to master my fate —
Obedient.
If they forced me to suffer the torments of final betrayal,
My voyage was long—I would readily enter the strait —
Obedient.
But if they forbid us our love — on that day
I shall not believe in the ban, and will not obey.
Если мне скажут: «Ты должен идти на мученье», —
С радостным пеньем взойду на последний костер, —
Послушный.
Если б пришлось навсегда отказаться от пенья,
Молча под нож свой язык я и руки б простер, —
Послушный.
Если б сказали: «Лишен ты навеки свиданья»,
Вынес бы эту разлуку, любовь укрепив, —
Послушный.
Если б мне дали последней измены страданья,
Принял бы в плаваньи долгом и этот пролив,
Послушный.
Если ж любви между нами поставят запрет,
Я не поверю запрету и вымолвлю: «нет».
«In northern capital a dusty poplar’s planted, / Translucent clock-face is ensnared by dappled green, / And in its shade gleams house or battleship enchanted / From far away, the kin of sky and water’s sheen. A breezy barque, its mast of touch-me-not is slender, / It stands in line along...»
«In dreadful world of grim oppressor / You, midnight burials’ gruesome friend, / In suicide’s strict lofty dresser / The telephone tells of the end. The asphalt blackened lakes are pitted / As angry horse hooves clatter by, / Comes soon the sun; then soon emitted / Will be the sensel...»
«O Lake Saimaa, you beautiful maiden, my boat you were swaying, / Swayed the lively and spirited skiff that like arrow was sharpened, / Heard a lullaby’s bliss did my soul in the watery spraying, / Saw away in the distance, like sisters, deserted escarpments. / Kalevala’s primordial refra...»
«Aya Sophia — wondrous building planted / For God to judge the peoples and the kings! / Your dome, said one who saw it once, enchanted, / Suspended seems to be by heaven’s strings. And all the ages ape Justinian’s pattern, / Who, when desiring others’ gods to loot / Was granted by ...»